The New Genereation
by supersailorstars
Summary: Most everyone grows up, and has kids at some point in life. While Will is still in the prime of life, he now has his own kids, one of whom is ready to become apprenticed. Everyone seems to expect her to become a diplomat like her mother. The question is, will she? And what kind of adventures might she have. The main characters are my own.
1. Chapter 1 Choices

I do not own Ranger's Apprentice, only my own characters.

I started this because I was bored, and couldn't get anywhere with my book. The likelihood of my going to far with the story is slim because I have other writing priorities. I will however continue if enough people are into it and wanting more. ;P

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The sun was setting on a peaceful evening, turning the sky and castle red. _It wasn't imposing as castles went, _Alex thought, as she looked at it. It had three outer walls with a tower at each corner and another keep in the center. It was made with stone full of iron giving it its color and name.

She sighed, content. Life in Redmont was peaceful…until a scream came from behind her, just at the edge of the village. Another sigh escaped her lips, as she rolled her eyes. It was a familiar scream. It was Alex's much younger brother Liam. Her best friend Daemon was probably chasing him again. They were most likely playing that Deamon was Morgarath and Liam was their father Will or Uncle Horace during that last battle.

Liam liked acting out that story, and Deamon did nothing but encourage him. When she asked him why, he would always tell her 'I live to entertain. If that's what entertains him, well…' then he would shrug.

Her thoughts were broken when Liam yelled 'Die Morgarath', and then Daemon made choking noises like he was dying. Alex supposed he was on the ground as well. She let out a snort of laughter and shook her head.

It was only moments after Daemon stopped choking that she heard Liam run toward her. He ran around her holding his hands out as though he was riding a horse. "Giddy up, Tug," he yelled galloping off back to the castle. She watched him, and heard a soft thud in the grass beside her.

"You really shouldn't encourage him," she said.

"Why not? It's all in good fun." She could hear the shrug in his voice.

"Maybe, but he is seven now, and Dad didn't kill Morgarath. Uncle Horace did."

She looked at him, and saw that he was staring at her. "What?" she asked in surprise.

"I think I am going to see if I can get apprenticed into that Player's troupe that's in town. They will be leaving in a week, and I turn fifteen in three days. I will be old enough. They already said that they would take me." He sounded…sad to Alex.

"Daemon, that's wonderful! It's perfect for you," she exclaimed. "Why aren't you happy? You have every right to be. Those guys are some of the best."

"I will miss you," he said finally.

"We can write to one another, and you will be back to perform at Redmont every year. Plus, I am sure we will run into each other after I become apprenticed next month."

He frowned, and started plucking grass. "Maybe, but what will you do until you are apprenticed with your mom. I mean, I am your only friend."

Now she frowned, but not about the friend comment. It was true. All the other kids their age were weary of her, being the daughter of a Ranger and all. The fact that he was the most well-known Ranger changed nothing. A Ranger was still a Ranger, capable of sorcery, or so the rumors went.

"My…mom?"

"Yeah, you are going to apply for the Diplomatic Service, aren't you? I mean you have her talent for it. Everyone knows it."

"Umm… yeah, I guess."

"Okay, my turn to ask what. What's wrong?"

"I mean, I never thought about it, being apprenticed. I knew I would be, but I…I never thought about it. If I had, do you think I would have gone into the Diplomatic Service?"

He laughed and she glared at him.

"You aren't apprenticed yet. It's not too late to think about it, but what would you do. I doubt you could handle a battle horse. Who would want to? You could apprentice under Jenny maybe. I'm sure she would love to have you, but you can't really cook. You could be a scribe, but I know you to well. You would never be able to sit in a stuffy room all day transcribing documents. It's not like you could be a knight, or a Ranger. They don't allow girls in. You aren't the type to be a jongleur or player…

"Mom wants you come home," Liam yelled, running back toward them. "It's getting dark. She says it's time to come in."

She stood up. "See you tomorrow," she said.

"Mom says it's time to come in," Liam said again, breathlessly, when he reached them.

"Go tell her I'm coming," she replied, rather annoyed.

"Okay," he said, running back for the castle, his arms out, like he was a bird. She stared to follow him, more slowly.

"See you on the morrow," Daemon waved behind her. By then the sun had nearly finished setting, and he headed for his home in the village.

Liam was already in the gate, when her stomach told her that it was nearly dinner time. Street lamps were being lit behind her in the village, and torches had already been lit in the castle in front of her.

She walked under the portcullis, and crossed the cobblestone to where her family's apartment was housed in the Diplomatic Service wing. She started up the stairs. Their apartment was on the topmost floor. She entered the five room apartment, to see her mother setting the dishes on the table, and her father's clock resting on one of the chairs in the sitting room.

"Go wash up," her mother said, her long, blond hair bouncing as she set the table. She met her father at the door of the washroom. He wore the usual mottled green and grays of the Ranger's. He took the back of her head in one hand, and pulled her down to kiss the top of her head, his brown eyes dancing. It was strange being taller than him at such a young age.

She ducked under his arm, and entered the washroom. Inside, a large bowl of water waited for her on a table. A mirror hung against the wall above it, and the chamber pot sat on the other side of the room.

She put her hands in the water, and took the soap to scrub her hands clean. She splashed a little water on her face and looked in the mirror. She saw a confused girl of fourteen years old with wavy, brown hair, and grey eyes. She gave another sigh and went to dinner, putting thoughts of apprenticeship aside for later.

Alex's father had just left to go down to the cabin, and her mother was tucking Liam into his bed, which was across the room from hers. She heard her mother kiss him after they went through their goodnight ritual. She had already told her mother that she loved her, so when they were done, Alyss just blew out the candle and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Alone, or at least as alone as she could be with Liam sleeping twenty feet away, she thought about what Daemon had said. He expected her to go into the Diplomatic Service like her mother. Who else expected that of her? Her mother? Her father? She thought back, memories of when they would talk about their work, and apprentices. They seemed to expect her to join the Service as well. She thought of all the comments of 'when you become a diplomat' and 'when you join the service". She knew she could make a decent diplomat, and it had the adventure she craved, but she just wasn't sure. Something just felt off about it.

Unsure what it could be, she turned her thoughts to the other things that Daemon brought up. He was right about her being a jongleur. She was a terrible singer, and musician. She had tried all sorts of instruments before but could never get the hang of any of them. Plus she couldn't deliver a good punch line if her life depended on it.

She loved horses, or she loved Tug, but he was a small horse, and those battle horses were just too large and strong for her. She could probably talk Aunt Jenny into accepting her as an apprentice, but then she would probably be washing dishes all of her life. _That_ wouldn't do. She just couldn't cook. She could be a scribe. Her letters were superb according to Uncle George, but that was just to dull.

Being a Ranger or knight. Now _that_ was a thought, but those were strictly men's worlds. Being a knight didn't really appeal to her the way being a Ranger did. Uncle Horace was wonderful, and an excellent knight. Being a knight however, just didn't hold the same appeal. Her father told her all the stories, all of the wonderful adventures.

If she had her way, she would be a Ranger. She would be the best, like her father, but again, it was a man's world. Women weren't allowed. It just wasn't done.

_Choices, choices,_ she thought, and with that, fell asleep.

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Hope you like it so far. I can do better, if I started it different, but I was to lazy to start over.


	2. Chapter 2 Dreams

Black enveloped Alex, cutting her off from everything. It gave her the feeling of aloneness. She was just there, suspended in the dark. She didn't particularly mind the feelings. She was rather suited for it, only really getting along with a few people.

Then lights began to flicker on. Small ones and then larger ones until the night was full of them! Then one, so large and close appeared, that nearly blinded her. It lit up the black to a light blue, much like the sky on the horizon, and none of the other light s could be seen.

She couldn't stare at his source of light for long, and had to turn away from it. She took notice of the fact that she had no shadow that could be seen. Then shapes began to form in the blue, large and green, with hints of greys and browns. She could see they were continents. There were two to be exact. She recognized them from her father's maps he would show her of his adventures.

She looked where Araluen would be on the smaller of the two, and that's when she began to fall. Wind rushed by her, whipping her hair about. The continents were getting bigger as she got closer. Her breathing got more rapid as she fell.. She soon could only see the island where Araluen sat as she came closer to the earth. She could begin to make out individual mountains, and forests.

As the ground came forward, she began to become more scared. She didn't like falling, and that is what she was doing now. She didn't like the loss of control of her body. She had no way to control where she was going, or what was going to happen next. She only knew at the end of it was pain.

She got closer and could see castles across the land, rivers, soon even individual trees, but she was lost to the beauty of it all. She was concentrated on where she would land, and what her mutilated body would feel.

Then the birds came, crows and eagles, hawks and even the smallest of sparrows. They flew around her, spreading their wings wide, telling her to do the same. She tried, but was paralyzed by the blinding fear of what waited on the ground.

As she came to pass the tallest of trees the birds flew away from her in a flurry. She screamed for them to stay, to come back and help her, but they only flew away. She looked to the ground. It was right there. She could touch it if she was only able to reach her arm out, but just snapped her eyes shut praying for her death to come quickly.

And then…nothing.

She slowly opened her eyes, only to be back in her room. Slowly, heart racing, she sat up. Her bed was drenched in sweat, and her cloths clung to her. She heard the squeak of a mattress and looked to see her brother getting out of bed. She checked the window, where the stars were shinning in. _Still dark._ She sighed and looked back at Liam.

"Did I yell?" she asked.

"No," he said looking at her curiously. She asked him that more mornings then she could care to count, but never told him about the nightmare of falling. Her mother and father agreed he didn't need to know. "You never do." He came to sit beside her on her bed, and wrapped his arms around her, his stuffed teddy in his arms. "You okay now?" he asked looking at her with his big brown eyes.

"Yeah, I am now," she replied, returning the hug, and kissing him on the head the way father did to them. "Thank you."

Light leaked in the room, as the sun announced the morning. It couldn't yet be seen over the horizon, but it soon would be waking the rest of the sleeping. She sighed again. Everyone was still sleeping. Only Rangers got up before the sun. She rolled her eyes, _and apparently the kids of Rangers too._

She got up, and grabbed her clothes from the closet and left the room, telling him again that she was okay, and giving him some privacy to change. She found her mother already up, and had started to get breakfast ready in the small kitchen.

"I am going to the river to wash," she said.

Alyss looked at her, an expression of worry on her face. She knew that Alex only went to the river to wash was when she had the nightmare. She nodded, knowing there was nothing she could say that Alex didn't already know.

It was still dark in the courtyard, and the guards were only just opening the gate. She nodded hello, and they waved back to her. She continued to the river. Where she was going was to a hidden place one hundred yards into the tree line, to a small pool fed by the river.

On the way, she passed by where her father was gathering water for the cabin. He let her be. She knew he would stop her on her way back, just as he knew he would. She didn't care at the moment, and continued on.

Finally reaching the clear pool, she laid her clothes on the bank, and striped from her sweat soaked ones. She didn't have to worry about anyone bothering her from the village. Her father would stop anyone who tried to go near the trees.

She started with just her foot into the pool. The water was crisp and cold, just as she liked it. She slipped the other foot in and slowly waded to her mid shins, letting her legs get used to the temperature. She then turned to face away from the pool, before falling backwards into it. There was no better wake up in the morning for her, then shocking herself awake with face full of cold water.

She floated to the top, and lied there on her back, soaking, as her nightmares came to mind. The cold water helped to numb her, and her fear, so she could sort through it all, and try to deal with it.

She had been afraid of falling for most of her life. She thought of all the times she stood on the battlements, and looking out the window in the apartment or from the towers. Heights themselves held little problem for her. In fact, when she was little she used to climb, a lot. It was a habit, she was told, that came from her father.

Then one day she was pushed by one of the ward children from the battlement. He was several years older than her, and a closed minded, superstitious, foolish child. He had learned her father was a Ranger, and believing all the rumors pushed her over. Lucky for her the ground was soft and muddy from the spring rains, but she still broke several bones.

The boy was punished with extra chores for a year, down at the cabin. Her father gave the boy hell.

She was luckier still that they could all be mended properly, but they had hurt for months. She also had to sleep very uncomfortably in the casts. She didn't necessarily mind the pain. For a while it didn't even bother her, but it seemed unending and wouldn't go away, and she despised the uncomfortableness of it all.

As for the fall itself, it was something she had no control over, and she hated that. Being only a young child when it happened really took a toll on her now, being unable to handle heights as well.

It was suggested to her to try and learn to swim underwater. She was told that it was similar to falling, and it might help her get over it. That's where the pool came in, but she still could barely jump from anything over two feet tall. It had the added bonus of being clean as well, so when she would have the nightmare she would come here and swim it off.


End file.
